Typically, a mattress is composed of a spring assembly or innerspring core covered by a fabric or textile covering. The innerspring core usually has a plurality of coil springs arranged in rows between upper and lower border wires, with the endmost coil springs in each row being joined to the upper and lower border wires by means of sheet metal clips. The top panel of the mattress cover is then affixed to the upper border wire by wrapping the edges of the cover around the upper border wire and then securing the edges in position by means of stitching, gluing, or securing with staples or hog rings.
These conventional methods of securing the top mattress cover to the innerspring core are generally manual operations. Consequently, a significant degree of nonuniformity in the end product inevitably results. Furthermore, these largely manual methods entail significant substantial labor as well as material costs.
It has therefore been an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method of attaching top mattress covers to innerspring cores so as to facilitate automation or at least reduction in the manual labor of the process, thereby reducing the cost and nonuniformity in the end product.
It has been a further object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for attaching mattress covers to innerspring cores so as to eliminate the need for hog rings or glue and thereby reduce the material costs incurred.